Tony Mokbel in Barwon Prison: Authorities look at moving gangland figure out of super-secure unit
THE first photo of gangland figure Tony Mokbel in prison has emerged, as authorities consider whether to move him out of his super-secure unit.
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PRISON authorities are examining whether drug lord Tony Mokbel should be moved out of his super-secure unit.
Mokbel has spent almost all of the past decade in Barwon Prison’s Acacia section, home to some of the state’s highest-risk inmates.
A photo taken inside Barwon this year — obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun — appears to show Mokbel in good health as he poses with visitors at the jail.
It is the first known image of the former kingpin taken on the inside to be made public.
Mokbel, dressed in prison-issue blue overalls, looks to have trimmed down from his days at the top of Melbourne’s organised crime tree.
He has a regular flow of visitors and is still well respected within the jail system.
Apart from an assault allegation and a brush with trouble for betting, he is regarded as a model prisoner, personable with staff and other criminals.
The Sunday Herald Sun believes senior corrections figures are examining whether he can be moved back into a mainstream section of the jail, near Geelong.
Such areas have a less rigid regimen than Acacia, which houses top-level criminals, including Mafia figures, major drug traffickers, killers and terrorists.
Inmates often have far less time outside their cells and their ability to fraternise with others is more restricted.
Mokbel — who has been behind bars since his arrest in Greece in 2007 — has been out of a management unit before.
He was in mainstream in 2014 but moved back to Acacia after a confrontation with another prisoner.
That inmate was left with minor injuries, reportedly after a dispute over gambling.
The alleged victim decided not to press charges.
Mokbel is believed to be the last of his siblings still in jail.
The Sunday Herald Sun understands brothers Horty, Kabalan and Milad are now all free after doing jail stints of varying lengths in the past decade.
Tony Mokbel is believed to still maintain an interest in horse racing, although his wealth was years ago stripped by asset seizures.
At one stage, he reportedly owed the National Australia Bank up to $7 million.
The bank retrieved almost all of the debt by selling off his substantial property assets after they were frozen. The remaining $700,000 was written off.
A Corrections Victoria spokeswoman said the department did not discuss individual prisoners.
“Corrections authorities conduct rigorous security and risk assessments on anyone coming into the prison system to ensure their placement is safe and secure,” the spokeswoman said.
“Prisoner placements are regularly monitored and reviewed, and may be modified where an assessment finds that their risk and individual requirements have changed.”
Mokbel was once regarded as Victoria’s biggest drug distributor.
He fled Australia for Greece in 2006 after becoming aware he was being investigated by the Purana taskforce over gangland murders.
In 2012, he was sentenced to 30 years jail with a minimum term of 22 years.
SPRING IS IN THE AIR, BUT NOT AT BARWON
NOT much more than a decade ago, spring was Tony Mokbel’s time to shine. It was an era of expensive suits, luxury cars, a legion of happy hangers-on and big bets with rails bookies.
Melbourne’s gangland war — in which he was suspected of being a leading player — was still running in 2004, but Mokbel wasn’t about to let that interfere with the racing carnival.
When the Herald Sun’s Geoff Wilkinson caught up with him trackside at Flemington on Oaks Day (pictured below), things were going rather well.
Mokbel may have been on $1 million bail over major drug charges, but he wasn’t about to betray any concern about that.
Instead, the big man in the pinstriped suit talked of already backing three winners by race seven, including an $80,000 collect on Fastnet Rock.
He also found the winner of the VRC Oaks, a fittingly named filly called Hollow Bullet.
“This is a nice day and everybody gets dressed up,” said the former pizza maker with a knack for making dough at the track. It’s a universe away from how he’ll spend the 2017 spring carnival.
The wealth is long gone, identified and frozen by the same dogged Purana pursuers who would ultimately have him prosecuted.
Home now is the grinding concrete confines of maximum security Barwon Prison, near Geelong. It is where Mokbel has spent most of an already decade-long jail stretch living in its most restricted unit, known as Acacia.
The sumptuous restaurant meals of yesteryear are a fading memory. In their place are plates of mass-produced prison grub which, while nutritious, are far from being Michelin material.
The designer suits are very much a thing of the past, replaced with spartan prison-issue threads.
His passion for the punt can no longer be liberally indulged.
In 2014, Mokbel found himself in strife when it was alleged he was placing bets from inside jail.
He drove a Ferrari and owned racehorses before fleeing Australia in a yacht he infamously bought to aid his escape to Greece in 2006. He was arrested still running his drug empire through the internet and by phone.
As with all prisoners, Mokbel’s freedom to see others has been greatly curtailed.
Those on his visits list can make prearranged trips south down the Geelong freeway to see him, but are only admitted after a series of rigid security checks.
Mokbel is said to remain in good spirits inside Barwon.
He appears to have made a strong recovery from a 2012 heart turn and is said to exercise regularly.
His noted social skills mean he gets along with just about everyone, staff and crims alike.
The only reported friction came when Mokbel allegedly struck another inmate in a dispute over gambling.